Several Cape Cod nice white shark sightings lit up the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app throughout a busy weekend, whereas many spotters are additionally complicated ocean sunfish for the apex predators.
A flurry of shark exercise was reported near shore on Sunday, together with a shark alert off of Chatham in the course of the afternoon.
“!! SHARK ALERT !! White shark spotted 400 yards off North Beach Island,” tweeted MA Sharks, which is run by shark researcher John Chisholm, who confirms shark sightings for the Sharktivity app.
Shark alerts are issued when a white shark sighting is confirmed near a public seaside. A notification goes out with every alert.
Chatham is a hotspot for sharks this time of yr, as they prowl the shoreline for seals.
Other Outer Cape shark sightings on Sunday included a terrific white noticed close to Chatham’s Monomoy Island, and a 10- to 12-foot nice white noticed off of Nauset Outer Cut in Orleans.
In Cape Cod Bay off of Eastham, folks out on the water “watched the shark swim back and forth about 250 feet from our boat off the bay shore near Steele Rd,” reads the Sharktivity submit.
The shark sightings then continued on Monday, with a number of studies of nice whites off of Chatham.
Also, a few unconfirmed shark sightings got here in from the Plymouth bay space over the weekend. A beachgoer at White Horse Beach informed a lifeguard that there was an injured seal at Manomet Point.
“Party reported a possible shark in the area as well,” reads the Sharktivity submit. “No description or contact info; Harbormaster checking the area. Unconfirmed — yellow flag.”
Also, a beachgoer reported that they noticed “something large in the water with a fin” between Plymouth Beach and Brown’s Bank. That was additionally an unconfirmed sighting.
Meanwhile, plenty of ocean sunfish have been not too long ago noticed within the space — and confused for the apex predators.
“Most of the shark sighting reports I’ve received in the past week have been sunfish,” Chisholm wrote.
The fin of the ocean sunfish, also called a Mola mola, is commonly confused for a shark’s fin.
“Shark? Nope! This is an ocean sunfish we saw on the afternoon trip,” Hyannis Whale Watcher Cruises posted on Sunday. “Ocean sunfish are the largest bony fish in the ocean.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”